Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Getiing There....Slowly But Surely...

I haven't updated on here about the health matters that have been going on for some time.....I went for my Dexa scan at Hereford Hospital yesterday...first shock was finding cost of car parking had risen again! £3 a hour, what a bloody rip off...anyway the scan -which checks out my bone density,didn't take long and we were out of there inside the hour..I'm still on quite a high dose of steroids still and they can make your bones brittle when taken long term-hence the scan.  
I have to take high doses of calcium  and vit D to try and prevent damage to my bones.
 The steroids are working well re the Polymyalgia -I generally don't have any pain in my body at all--until I try and cut down on the steroids--I started on 20mg back in Sept and have managed to get down to 10mg once in Nov-but all the symtoms came back and I had to increase again...Ive since been on 12.5mg until last Sunday when I cut down to 12mg.It looks like the way forward for me is to cut back just 1/2 mg every 2 weeks.  
The specialist said it would be a long process to cut down and it looks like he was correct.It look like I just have to be more patient than Ive been! The only side effect I get at the moment is some weakness in my body first thing in the morning before I have my tablets and towards evening when it can be a problem to lift my arms for long, but it hasnt caused any problems re everyday life .

The tinnitus that has been a real pain in the arse (well my head to be more precise LOL) is comiing and going---it still gets really bad at times..but recently it has been going away almost alltogether for a day or two-before returning with a vengence!
But there seems to be a bit of a pattern, Im marking it down in my diary--giving it marks out of 10 for loudness each day so I can show the doc--not that Im sure it will make any difference lol.   
Nothing I do seems to make any difference to the sound or loudness so dont think there is much they can do.Maybe one day it will go away.  
Im having some huge hot sweats as well--I dont know if its the menopause (or mental-pause as Bill cheekily calls it) or the steroids--both can cause the sweats..certainly dont need the central heating on lately!

Other than that Im fine!

Bills been on insulin injections  for his diabetes since before Christmas , that seems to be working well and his count is coming down nicely now his cold has cleared up at last--its been hanging on since Christmas, maybe because he has been on insulin?

Anyway-its all coming right-if a little slower than Id like, but at least Im still able to cope ok with the everyday life and my workshops as normal..I rest when I feel I need to rest instead of pushing myself like I used to, and Im organising  things a bit different to before, but on the whole its all getting better and with careful managment will continue to keep getting better..

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